ICG PLC (LSE:ICG) and Bridgepoint Group PLC (LSE:BPT) were among several fund groups on both sides of the Atlantic to see their shares fall after Swiss investment firm Partners Group capped withdrawals from a major private equity fund.
The decision by Partners to limit redemptions from its private equity Global Value SICAV sent its own shares down 17% and, as Reuters put it, stirred "broader market jitters over private credit exposures".
ICG was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100, down 5.4%, while St James's Place PLC fell 2.6%, M&G fell 1.3% and London's big banks fell too. Among mid-caps, Bridgepoint fell 9.4%, Molten Ventures PLC (LSE:GROW) 5.7% and Partners Group Private Equity Limited fell 2.4%.
Partners told investors in a letter that withdrawals from the fund would be limited to 5% of net asset value per quarter, after requests reached an estimated 9.8% in the second quarter.
Partners said there had been volatility across the industry in open-ended evergreen funds since late last year.
Limiting redemptions was an "indispensable feature of private markets investing to protect long-term investors in an inherently illiquid asset class".
Analysts at Tickmill Group said: "The read-across was negative for listed private-market and asset-management names, where investors remain sensitive to fund flows, redemption pressure and valuation risk."
A day earlier, Partners published a Q1 update for its $15bn Private Equity LLC fund, where redemptions ticked down, but net flow trends were relatively weaker.
Analysts at Citi estimated that "this implies higher redemptions from Partners' scaled global evergreens". The analysts said "it is plausible flows could further deteriorate" given "spillover effects and... broader uncertainty following software and private credit concerns".
